A driver has been accused of using foul language and upsetting a child passenger on a bus service between Mosgiel and Invercargill this week.
A Catch-A-Bus South driver swore in front of a 12-year-old boy and four other passengers, including a young girl, when the boy caught the bus from his mother's Mosgiel home on Tuesday, the boy's mother, Danielle Iyer, said.
She was writing a formal complaint to the company about the incident, she said..
She had already complained verbally.
Catch-A-Bus South owner Peter Burns said it was the first complaint to be made against the driver, who had worked for the company for more than five years.
''It's the first complaint against the company, as well,'' he said.
Mr Burns said the company ''bent over backwards'' for Miss Iyer, and he was investigating her claims against the driver.
Miss Iyer said her son was picked up to return to Invercargill on Tuesday. The driver was rude towards her and the child.
The incident had followed another mishap when her son was dropped at the wrong address in Mosgiel by a different Catch-A-Bus South driver on July 16, she said.
In that instance, her 12-year-old was left wandering Mosgiel alone because he did not have enough cellphone credit to ring her and did not know her address, she said.
Miss Iyer said her son lived with his father in Invercargill and was not familiar with Mosgiel.
She had moved there last November and it was the first time her son had visited her there, she said.
The driver later apologised in person to Miss Iyer and her son, and the company refunded the child's return fare to Invercargill.
Miss Iyer said she was happy with how that incident was handled.
But there were problems again on Tuesday, she said.
''I asked if my son could sit up front, because he was anxious to see where he was going after being dropped at the wrong address. The driver said he knew exactly who we were and that we were getting a [expletive] free ride anyway.
''He grabbed my son's bag and told him to sit in the back, then said he didn't have all [expletive] day as I tried to comfort my son and say goodbye.''
Miss Iyer said she asked the driver what his problem was but did not get an explanation or apology.
